


Iris and Everything After- s t a r s

by freezinginbristol



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: F/M, North American Twins, Platonic Relationships, Protective Siblings, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-20
Updated: 2016-04-20
Packaged: 2018-06-03 08:59:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6604804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freezinginbristol/pseuds/freezinginbristol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had their own reference points, that was true. But with the dream and nightmare that was history and their lives always around the corner, find themselves closer at times then they would admit. She was his Iris and him, well, everything after she supposed. "I think I made you up inside my head." [Collection of one shots for the North American Twins]<br/>1/?- Hae ephadron theri thaur | Feast of Starlight (Howard Shore)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Iris and Everything After- s t a r s

Dear God, she was going to kill him.

She knows he's entered even in her half conscious state, door squeaking slightly and his quiet curse before the slight growl from the giant polar bear on the floor beside her bed brings her into some place in the waking world. The real question was, how the hell did he get a key to actually get inside of her hotel room?

She shoves that to the back of her mind and sinks further into the pillow before actually groaning in annoyance as his finger runs up and down the sole of her foot. She catches him in the shoulder with so much strength he actually tumbles to the floor and almost onto Kuma, before setting himself up and muttering an apology underneath his breath. America moves past the mass of white fur and sits down on the edge of the bed before speaking.

"Psst. Maddie, you awa-"

"You have exactly five seconds before I kill you." The words are muttered into the pillow and thick with sleep but that infernal smile grows on his face at her words.

" I got something to show you."

"Whatever it is, can it not wait until tomorrow after the-"

"No of course not don't be ridiculous." The rush of words makes her raise one eyebrow, eyes opening fully and she turns her body to lift herself up in bed to fully regard him in jeans, dark t-shirt and hoodie.

The puppy dog look on his face is almost enough to make her either break or want to break him. And she should go back to bed and tell him to leave and tell him to forget about it and don't bother me anymore I want to sleep.

"Give me five minutes."

* * *

"Okay, this is ridiculous." she says as he parks the car, looking around at their surroundings and seeing nothing but the hills and trees surrounding them before he steps out, humming underneath his breath. "Where the hell are we?"

"You ask too many questions, Maddie. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"My sense of adventure died when we were six and I almost broke my arm climbing up to get you out of a tree." she snaps, grasping his hand as she exits the vehicle. She snorts at the laugh that comes from him at her statement before he's behind her and putting something over her eyes. "Excuse me, what the hell-"

"Chill, Maddie." The exasperation in her brother's voice is almost tangible and she puts in a few more protests before giving up, her world going black and walking forward with his hand in hers.

"I can still kill you, you know." she says as he opens a door. It's much colder than the warm July night outside and she uses one arm to rub some heat into her body.

"Yeah, yeah. Steps here." America says. It was amazing how much she could actually put up with him at times. It's about two minutes of climbing before he stops, holding open a door and pushing her in front of him. He steps away from her, moving to the other side of what she assumed to be a massive space, and she hears his fingers moving across a keyboard.

"What are you doing?"

"Spoilers, Maddie." America singsongs, and if she could roll her eyes, she would be doing so. Rather the sound of something moving back overhead catches her attention and she tilts her head up and back despite the obvious blockage to her senses. America chuckles at the sight, waiting for the overhead compartment to finish setting before speaking again, voice softer in the night.

"Ok."

Her fingers move to the back of her head, untying the fabric from across her eyes as she speaks. "This better not be some- _oh_."

The sight itself was clearer than she expected and the breath catches in her throat and the endless expansion of stars in the sky, some clearer and sharper than others in the light of the moon overhead, spots of white creation spilled across the universe.

"You can't see them better anywhere else." America says from his place across, leaning against the wall with a bemused smirk on his face as she turns around, gaze still fixated upwards. He pushes off from his spot, arms crossed over his chest as he moves across the room to her, not that she really noticed. "I came here a lot after '72 and the obsession didn't die so...yeah. Owner lets me use it from time to time, for a price of course. But since it's your birthday she was willing to make an exception."

She doesn't answer to that at first, still gaping at the massive expanse across the sky before her words come out. "You did this for me?" Violet eyes finally look from the sight above her to catch her brother's gaze, who seems almost embarrassed as he scruffs his feet against the floor.

"Yeah I mean it's not that hard. Not to say that you aren't worth the effort because you totally are but since scheduling with meetings and shit wasn't working I had to drag you out of bed at like 2:00 in the morning just to-"

Her hand covers his mouth to stop his rambling, as adorable as it actually was despite her sleep deprived brain and raises an eyebrow.

_You felt the need to overstate with me? Of all people?_

He shrugs, and laughs at her fist connecting with his shoulder soon after he licks her hand that was covering his mouth. "You're an idiot," she hisses.

"But I'm your idiot," he sings, and grabs her wrist, bringing her arm upwards to cover over her eyes once more, despite her groan of annoyance. "Don't complain or else, you'll ruin the surprise," Alfred warns and she sticks out her tongue at him as they step to the side and she finds herself being sat down at a table before her arm comes down.

Maps.

Charts.

Stars _littered_ across pages and pages as she flipped through the massive book, eyes pouring over his drawings of night sky after night sky, the dates spanning father and farther from where she sees them written out neatly on the top of the page.

**January 17, 1997**

Cassiopeia

Ursa Major

**April 3, 2003**

Gemini

Little Dipper

Orion

**September 24, 1986**

Big Dipper

Ursa Minor

Each constellation drawn in and the points seen highlighted in pen and it's then that she notes her birthdate and name written in almost perfect calligraphy at the top of the page every year, standing out against the stark white of the pages.

"When did you-"

"You think I spent all that money on NASA and didn't pick up a few things? I prefer the hand method to computerization anyway, you gotta be more careful with where you place things." America chuckles, running a hand through his hair before leaning against the table, arms crossed over his chest. "I hope you-"

"'Like' isn't even the proper word to describe my feelings right now, even though I am dead tired." Madeline cuts in, taking in a deep breath at the sudden tears that welled in her throat as she looked again that the pages. "You did this every day?" she asks in disbelief and he hums, smile wide.

"Tried to at least, and if I couldn't, then I calculated the nearest estimate to the nights previous, depending on where I am. We need another one though," her brother says, and with his words, she turns to the later pages of the massive book, and he fishes in his pocket, eventually finding a pen hidden in the recesses of his jeans and leans over her shoulder, carefully penning in the date and her name at the top before stepping back as she stands.

"Keep going or you can stop here if you want. I mean I can always add in more stuff for you because it takes a while to actually get the hand of charting out these things without the high tech equipment NASA has and believe me this does get tiring after while. I mean, not to say that you couldn't handle it which you totally can I mean you can handle a lot of things better than I can at times-"

He cuts off at her arms encircling his waist, squeezing tightly and firmly and he wishes that she could understand how untouchable she was to him at times and he buries his face into her hair, breathing in the scent of sleepiness and dreams and starlight before the words come spilling out of him full to the brim of genuine apology and regret and wishing he hadn't been so blinded by his own ideals and fears and needs at the time.

"I love you."

She squeezes him tighter at that, lifting her head from where it rested against his chest to look at him with a slight smile before he speaks again. "You know, all this celebration with middle of the night adventures has got me in the mood for cake."

She snorts. "I doubt that Fred Myer is open at 3:00 in the morning, even for the United States of America. Come on," she stretches upwards slightly to kiss his cheek and maneuver past him to grab the heavy object let on the table, "we _do_ have work tomorrow," she points out when he whines, giving a cry of protest at his keys in her hand. "To the car."

"No fair."

"You drove me here, remember? Mr. Midnight Adventure?"

"I'm the night owl Maddie, as much as you are the moon for me, I'm not trading off my nocturnal habits for one day. Besides, friends don't let friends drive sleep-deprived," America points the words close to her person, body leaning down to press his face into her shoulder and she hoists the book in one hand before the other moves to run through his hair.

"I'm not your friend, flyboy," she corrects and he only hums, lifting his head with those searching eyes of his and that damn smile that seemed to be able to make her feel better about anything.

"Of course not. You're my sister," he presses his lips against her forehead for a moment, breath cool against her skin as he says the words. She almost doesn't notice as he steps away the glaring emptiness of her hand and he's twirling the keys on one finger with that wicked grin of his that made her want to simultaneously laugh and punch him in the face. "And that's a good enough reason not to let you take over a car. Of course, knowing you," his hand runs down her arm, linking their fingers together before kissing her forehead once more, longer this time as a sense of a poor pardon for his actions, "you forgive me eventually."

He holds open the door with a laugh as she punches his arm though the words still ring in her brain as they exit.

Yes, forgiveness with him seemed as constant as the stars.

**Author's Note:**

> Hae ephadron theri thaur- Transaltion: "I go walking beyond the forest."  
> PLEASE LISTEN TO THIS PIECE. IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL.  
> LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gbWL7MJ_kI


End file.
